By David J. Joseph
In all sense of human idiosyncrasies, there are banded and collective conceptions that leadership traits are ensconced in chivalrous, liberal, courageous, competent and dedicated leaders and eminent statesmen. Th ese are not acquired by chance but out of a conscious and sustained ability to consolidate and advance those cherished virtues that make a diff erence between authentic leaders and lie-dormant to the throne with a sole purpose of envisaging a better and developed society. When push comes to the shove, the qualities that project sound leadership are clearly visible while the negative antecedents that trail political jobbers tend to be indistinct and mediocre.
Th e enviable leadership qualities of the Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Talban Gombe) has exemplifi ed the traits that better defi ne what leadership is all about while essentially making history in the act of human and capital development. Dankwambo, a distinguished chartered accountant, consummate technocrat and admirable public servant par excellence, has in all his dealings distinguished himself by his ennobling academic, professional, public service and political career that has exceeded all expectations while shattering all known precedents and records set by his predecessors or peers be it at the state, federal, regional or international levels.
Dankwambo’s career began from Coopers & Lybrand and hightails to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Gombe State Accountant General, and he was later as a result of his unrelenting hardwork, perseverance, dedication, and commitment to duty as well as displaying the highest level of professional and technocratic achievements where he has received numerous awards, laurels and commendations as a consequence, appointed the Accountant General of the Federation before he answered the call of his people and contested the gubernatorial seat and won in 2011 general elections.
In fact, Dankwambo’s commitment to excellence and exemplary performance is only matched by his honesty and sense of integrity. While other public offi cers delight in looting public till Talban Gombe is not in that category, a trait which endears him to his peers, colleagues, underlings and political superiors alike. His watchword is strict neutrality and a rigid apolitical stance that did not favour any partisan interest, an adroit posture that earned him tremendous admiration and even grudging respect from all factions of the political class in Gombe state and beyond.
Having cut his teeth in turning around the Gombe State Accounting System for the better, Dankwambo wasted precious little time in applying the same principles at the offi ce of the Accountant General of the Federation as he had successfully formulated viable policies and fi nancial strategies that the fi nancial system of the country is today relying on. His next point of call to service of humanity was the sight nearer home, Gombe State, where after he had succumbed to people’s pressure and agreed that it was time to change the prevailing status quo for the better. Th e Jewel of the Savannah was then in the grip of political godfathers, potentates and crown princes who regarded the state as their personal fi efdom and its resources to be squandered and apportioned as they and their acolytes and cronies thought fi t. Th erefore, armed with his awesome credentials as a highly reputed and tremendously regarded public servant, Talba, within days of being sworn in as governor, kick-started a series of working visits across the state to see for himself the hitherto shambled and dilapidated government structures and abused public service system enmeshed in shady dealings, fi nancial mismanagement and marginalization of the majority by those who felt they owned the government and considered same as their personal estate by doing and undoing things to favor them at the detriment of the masses.
After properly diagnosing the state, Dankwambo came up with an 11 sector-based committees of relevant professionals with terms of references centered on formulating a template and blueprint for the development of the state and rescuing the formerly abused public service. On submission of the respective committee’s reports, Dankwambo swung into action by executing all the viable recommendations with preferential considerations to the education, health, agriculture, and infrastructural sectors of the state economy. Today, under the stewardship of the Talban Gombe, the state has turned out to be the most glaringly developed and transformed in the whole of the northeastern region buff eted with state-of-the-art infrastructure and pragmatic administrative policies and strategies.
Th ousands of kilometers of roads have been constructed across the state, model primary and secondary schools were constructed in all the 11 local government area of the state while old ones are fully renovated and equipped with stateof-the-art facilities, hospitals and other health related interventions have been put in place. Also, farmers have been yearly benefi ting from government interventions through subsidized fertilizer, tractors, and other farm implements, tens of thousands of women and youths have been trained in numerous skills acquisition programs and start-up capital provide. Indeed, the giant International Conference Centre, Petroleum Tankers Parking Bay, Gombe Mega Motor Park are projects that can only be found in Gombe State despite the lean resources at the disposal of the prudent and transparent Dankwambo administration.
In fact, Dankwambo has transformed Gombe state into the industrial and agrarian hub of the Northeast region, a position that it enviably occupied in the past. Having changed the infrastructural, developmental, industrial and manufacturing landscape of the state for the better while drastically reducing poverty, maternal and child mortality rates it is no surprise that many political activists, leaders of thought and influential pundits have called on the man of the hour, Dankwambo to throw his hat in the ring. And as he did in the 2011 election, he should declare his interest for the presidency so that Nigerians will stand a chance to reap the countless democratic dividends that he has been rendering to Gombe State. Savvy Nigerians are echoing the aphorism: ‘What is good for Gombites is also sauce for Nigerians!’ Joseph writes from Abuja
